ABSTRACT
Some chronicle of the life of Buddha Gautama, and of the religion which bears his name, is essential to an understanding of the Singalese kings and of the “Lost Cities,” which were built for religious rather than for monarchical or civic motives. This account must inevitably be brief, but will, I hope, be of use to the average visitor whose knowledge of Buddhism and its founder may be on arrival in Ceylon more nebulous than precise, as indeed was my own.
